Brand Names
by EPurSeMouve
Summary: Compromise never comes easy.


TITLE: Brand Names

AUTHOR: EPurSeMouve [epursemouve@goplay.com]

CATEGORY: V - just a quickie, I'm afraid

RATING: PG

SPOILERS: Uh, "Tooms"? 

SUMMARY: Compromise never comes easy. 

DISCLAIMER: This story contains characters spawned by The X-Files, a show copyrighted by CC and 1013 Productions. The other cultural icons mentioned belong to their respective creators, but the actual plot and text are mine. 

DISTRIBUTION: Anywhere, just ask first. 

Set mid-first season. Author's notes at end. 

Brand Names

By EPurSeMouve

epursemouve@goplay.com

http://www.goplay.com/epursemouve/

Ravenna, Nebraska

March 18, 1994

When you came down to it, Scully had feverishly decided, the trouble rested with brand names. 

To physics majors, Newton was life - the rest was just details. And Scully could list off his three laws drunk, asleep, or with a hundred-and-two degree fever and a cough, as she had proven just a few minutes ago. She had always liked Newton's third law the best - she had always found it poetic and beautiful, the universe's need for opposites. 

Had found it. Had. She and Mulder had only been working together for a few months now, but Scully was sure that they shared no common ground. 

She was short - Mulder was tall. She was logical - he was intuitive. She was Catholic - and he believed in aliens. Pretty big differences for two partners to overcome. 

But it didn't stop there. They were unable to agree on the simplest things, each pledging allegiance to opposing sides. McDonalds or Burger King. Motel 6 vs. Travelodge. Iced tea, not root beer.

She had once spent fifteen minutes convincing Mulder to take some Tylenol after a minor blow to the head that had left him aching. He had wanted Advil. 

"Tylenol doesn't taste sweet. How can it make you feel better if it doesn't taste sweet?" he had grumbled. 

"Tylenol Extra Strength is more potent. And Ibuprofen isn't good for your stomach," she'd said for the hundredth time. 

She felt a rising urge to purge, and tried desperately to resist. If she could just get some Coke... The carbonation always settled her stomach... 

At the office, they never had Coke in the refrigerator. Mulder liked Pepsi. 

She fled to the bathroom. 

They couldn't compromise between Coke and Pepsi, she grumbled mentally as she leaned her head against the cool comfort of the toilet. How were they ever going to agree on anything? 

Jesus, she felt terrible. For a moment, she just let her head throb against the harsh, unforgiving toilet, the sharp thuds echoing in her skull. 

Thud thud thud. 

She heard his heavy knocking on the door. When she knocked on a door, she rapped gently. 

Slowly, painfully, she stood, stumbling to the door of her room. When she opened it, she found Mulder in a door-charging stance, just about to leap into action. 

He stumbled back into something resembling normal posture. "Hey, I was worried about you..." His eyes passed over her quickly, his mind making calculations. "Scully, you - you're *sick*." 

She couldn't fault his reasoning. Besides, she was too sick to argue.

He seemed at a loss for what to do, his arms twitching a bit. But finally he put his hands on her shoulders and guided her back inside, gently sitting her upon the bed. 

He squatted beside her and just stared for a minute, his index finger drawing a line from her cheek to her mouth, tracing something curvy. She realized she hadn't wiped her face off after throwing up - but she felt too miserable to care. He was her partner, right? He could probably manage. 

"You're burning up. I'm gonna get you a glass of water," he said hoarsely. "Be right back." 

She watched him putter around her bathroom, digging through her toiletries case. She tried to tell him that she'd forgotten her little doctor's bag at home, but he arrived at the conclusion on his own. 

He returned and squatted beside her for a moment. "I've got some stuff in my room - I'll go get it." His gaze swept over her and the limp suit she still wore. "Uh... why don't you get into your PJs while I do that?" 

Helplessly, she gestured towards her suitcase. His Adam's apple bobbed up and down with a gulp as he dug through it, but he seemed to find her flannels without snagging anything embarrassing. 

He left quickly, and she shrugged bonelessly out of her clothes and into her pajamas, uncaring of whether or not the buttons were lined up properly. 

Jesus Mary and Joseph, she felt terrible. Her eyes fluttered closed... 

A gentle hand at the back of her neck, a gentle voice in her ear. "Here, Scully, take these." She opened her mouth dutifully, and two pills and a gulp of water slid smoothly down her throat. 

He lowered her to a horizontal position on the bed, and she opened her eyes enough to numbly observe him covering her with the spare blanket. He sat beside her for a few moments, slowly stroking her back. 

Random hazy thoughts flitted through her brain, and through the rushing noises inside her head, she could hear him talking. 

"...shouldn't have dragged you outside today. I should have noticed it was raining. I didn't think you'd get sick. I just didn't think..." 

She found her voice. "Not your fault. Felt bad on the airplane..." 

A sigh from him triggered a sudden shiver of chills, startling her into greater awareness of what he was saying. "I've never been too good at this partner stuff, Scully. But I am trying..." 

"S'all right," she murmured. "Me, too..." 

The rushing noises rose in volume, but she was pretty sure that he wasn't talking anymore. He wasn't too hard to deal with, she decided, when he kept quiet.

She let the stroking of his hand soothe her to sleep, comforted by the sweet taste of Advil on her tongue. 

END

Author's note: First season episodes have always been a guilty pleasure of mine. The hair might be strange and the outfits eye-catching. But I really enjoy being able to watch two people slowly become partners and friends. g

Profuse thanks go to Maria and Lysandra, for putting amazing thought into such a little quickie, and to the usual suspects, who, as always, are supportive, loving and full of humor, even in the toughest times. Virtual Advil to the feeling-poorly Sabine, who is hopefully a little less peaky now. 

And I am proud to be a Virginian. 

I'm strictly an Advil girl, and prefer McDonalds and Coke as a general rule. But what about you? 

You don't have to answer, if you want. But feedback would be nice anyways. g

Comments to epursemouve@goplay.com. And thanks for reading. 


End file.
